The Gospel of John, full of striking language and symbolism, is familiar to many as a sourcebook of favorite quotations. It is far more difficult to read this complex and subtle Gospel as a coherent whole on its own terms. In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, an expert on John's dramatic rhetoric helps students and pastors do just that. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by: attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs; showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits; commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book; focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text; making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format. This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. - Publisher.